TARDIS
The 'TARDIS'Generally, TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space) is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s. However, the use of Tardis is equally correct and consistent with current British press style, in which acronyms which form a pronounceable word are spelled with only the first letter capitalised (for example, Bafta), while acronyms requiring each letter to be read out (also known as "initialisms") are capitalised in their entirety (for example, BBC). Many examples of the form Tardis are found in media and, occasionally, licensed publications (in the 2005 series episode "World War Three", the caller ID of the TARDIS is displayed on Rose Tyler's mobile phone as "Tardis calling"—this capitalisation of only the initial letter being the default setting for Nokia mobile phones). The OED has the word "Tardis" capitalised as such with a first appearance from the Times in 1969. ( ) The word Tardis first appeared in print in the Christmas 1963 edition of Radio Times and this BBC publication has often italicised it to connote a ship's name (cutting available from The Doctor Who Cuttings Archive). Cuttingsarchive.org.uk ( ; 'T'ime 'a'nd 'R'elative 'D'imension 'i'n 'S'pace)There is some disagreement over whether the "D" in the name stands for "dimension" or "dimensions"; both have been used in various episodes. The very first story, An Unearthly Child (1963), used the singular "Dimension" and other episodes followed suit for the next couple of years. The 1964 novelisation Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks used the plural "Dimensions" for the first time and the 1965 serial The Time Meddler (1965) introduced it to the television series. Since then both versions have been used on different occasions; for example, it is singular again when mentioned in Frontios (1984). In "Rose" (2005), the Doctor uses the singular form (although this was a decision of the actor Christopher Eccleston—the line was scripted in the plural). Likewise, the Tenth Doctor keeps the word firmly singular in "Smith and Jones" (2007). The plaque set on the TARDIS console in the current design also uses the singular form. The 2011 episode "The Doctor's Wife" further establishes the singular as definitive by having the TARDIS herself use "Dimension" when uttering the full meaning of the acronym. is a time machine and spacecraft in the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who and its associated spin-offs. A TARDIS is a product of the advanced technology of the Time Lords, an extraterrestrial civilisation to which the programme's central character, the Doctor, belongs. A properly maintained and piloted TARDIS can transport its occupants to any point in time and any place in the universe. The interior of a TARDIS is much larger than its exterior, which can blend in with its surroundings using the ship's "chameleon circuit". TARDISes also possess a degree of sentience (which has been expressed in a variety of ways ranging from implied machine personality and free will through to the use of a conversant avatar) and provide their users with additional tools and abilities including a telepathically based universal translation system. In the series, the Doctor pilots an apparently unreliable, obsolete Type 40, Mark 1"Mark 1" is the model designation given in "The Time Meddler" (1965), at 15m50s TARDIS. Its chameleon circuit is broken, leaving it stuck in the shape of a 1960s-style London police box after a visit to London in 1963. The Doctor's TARDIS was for most of the series' history said to have been stolen from the Time Lords' home planet, Gallifrey, where it was old, decommissioned and derelict (and, in fact, in a museum). However, during the events of "The Doctor's Wife" (2011), the ship's consciousness briefly inhabits a human body named Idris, and she reveals that far from being stolen, she left of her own free will. During this episode, she flirtatiously implies that she "stole" the Doctor rather than the other way around, although she does also refer to him as her "thief" in the same episode. The unpredictability of the TARDIS's short-range guidance (relative to the size of the Universe) has often been a plot point in the Doctor's travels. Also in "The Doctor's Wife", the TARDIS reveals that much of this "unpredictability" was actually intentional on its part in order to get the Doctor "where he needed to go" as opposed to where he "wanted to go". Although "TARDIS" is a type of craft rather than a specific one, the Doctor's TARDIS is usually referred to as "the" TARDIS or, in some of the earlier serials, just as "the ship", "the blue box", "the capsule" or "the police box". In the two 1960s Dalek films, the craft was referred to as Tardis, without the definite article. Doctor Who has become so much a part of British popular culture that not only has the shape of the police box become more immediately associated with the TARDIS than with its real-world inspiration, the term "TARDIS-like" has been used to describe anything that seems to be bigger on the inside than on the outside. The name TARDIS is a registered trademark of the British Broadcasting Corporation.